Summary

In a previous study, the investigators showed that tight blood glucose control with insulin
during intensive care reduced morbidity and mortality in adult intensive care patients.
Whether this intervention also improves prognosis of pediatric intensive care patients
remains unknown. The current prospective, randomized, controlled study will asses the
impact of intensive insulin therapy on outcome of patients in a pediatric intensive care
unit. On admission patients will be randomly assigned to either strict normalization of
blood glucose according age adjusted values or the conventional approach, in which insulin
infusion is initiated only when blood glucose exceeds 215 mg/dl to maintain blood glucose
levels between 180-200 mg/dl.